


Unfolding

by matrixaffiliate



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Family, Fluff, TheyLiveAU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:33:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27304189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matrixaffiliate/pseuds/matrixaffiliate
Summary: Lily and James make a life for themselves and their family after the war is won, and Hogwarts is going to end up calling them right back home. A little TheyLiveAU for you to hide from cannon on this Halloween, requested by the wonderful ThisIsMegz, thank you darling! Jily. TheyLiveAU. One-shot. Fluff. Family. Happy ending.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 10
Kudos: 64





	Unfolding

**Author's Note:**

> One last Jilytober story! ThisIsMegz sent me a Tumblr post by SuspiciousNargles that was too cute not to write, thank you, darling! Enjoy a happy they live au where the Potter family gets the happy ending we all wish they did. =)
> 
> You can find SuspiciousNargles' Tumblr post here: https://sweeethinny.tumblr.com/post/633273528313135104/suspiciousnargles-super-important-question-has

"This feels weird," Lily looked at James as they unpacked another box.

"Well, it is sort of strange to be in the Potion Master's private stores and not be worried about being caught.

"I can't believe Slughorn's retiring." Lily sighed and put another of her books up on the shelf.

"I can," James gave a short bark of a laugh. "The war took its toll on all of us. His nerves aren't what they used to be. At his age, I wouldn't want to deal with these hellions either after all that."

"Just you wait," Lily grinned over at him, "As soon as the Transfiguration position opens up, I'm putting in your name."

"I'd be a lousy professor, Lils, and McGonagall won't ever retire," James shook his head before snagging Harry around the middle and turning him away from the box of glass vials.

"That's exactly what I said when I told you they'd offered me this position," Lily smirked at him.

"Yes, and the difference is that I'm right," James smirked at her from the box of dried potion ingredients he was unpacking. "Besides, if I taught here too, what would we do with the house?"

"We'd live in it." Lily laughed. "We've talked about this; I'm coming home every night."

"Yes, with a stack of papers that need grading that's so high it won't fit in the chimney when you floo out." James' smirk was wide across his face and his eyes were full of mischief.

Lily turned to Harry, "You see how mean your daddy is to your poor mummy?"

Harry laughed and toddled over to her side, arms high to be picked up. Lily reached down and put him on her hip before kissing his cheek.

"I'm going to miss being home with you all day, though."

"Don't you worry about that," James came over and wrapped her and Harry in his arms. "We'll be underfoot now and again."

Lily found out as the school year progressed that James and her had very different definitions of the term "now and again."

It felt like every spare moment, James and Harry would come tumbling out of the floo in her office and Harry would run on little legs to hop up into her lap.

"Mummy!" Harry came barreling at her, cookie tin in hand. "We bing you cookies!"

"You brought me cookies?"

"Yes! Because it's Haoween! And Haoween needs treats!" He pushed the tin into her stomach as he tried to climb onto her lap.

"And because it's just about time for you to set all this work aside and enjoy yourself." James came and sat on her desk.

Lily looked at the still five-inch-tall stack of papers on her desk.

"Come on, you know you'll finish these up with no problem tomorrow, and I happen to know that you are all set on your lesson plans for the next year."

Lily looked down at sweet Harry in her lap as he tried to open up the cookie tin, and then she looked up at James. "Alright, but tomorrow I have to finish these."

"Bring them with you," James jumped up and pulled Harry from her lap, still trying to get his little fingers to open the cookie tin. "You're not coming back to work until Monday."

"You think so?" She asked, even as she waved the papers into her bag.

James came up and wrapped his free arm firmly around her waist and brought his mouth to whisper in her ear.

"I think I can make it worth your while to let work stay at the office for most of the weekend."

"Daddy, what are you saying to Mummy?" Harry stuck his head between them.

"Don't you worry your little ears over it, mate." James chuckled.

"Let's go, you two crazies," Lily laughed and summoned her bag. "I'm ready for some Halloween treats."

"Cookies!" Harry cheered and hosted the now open tin over his head.

It was a few weeks later that Lily sent James a Patronus to come to her office just as soon as he could drop Harry with Sirius and Marlene. He was there within five minutes.

"What's wrong?" James came out of the floo so fast that he had to run to catch himself before falling flat on his face.

Lily bit her lip and tried to keep her nerves at bay.

"James, you remember Halloween?"

James' look of concern morphed into confusion.

"Sure, we had a good time."

"Did you remember to cast the spell, before we...?"

James frowned, "I don't know, but you're on the potion, so I guess I haven't been as concerned about it."

"I apparently have not been remembering to take it like I'm supposed to…" Lily trailed off.

James' face went from confused to a look of pure joy and excitement.

"Lily, Lily are you saying?"

She swallowed hard and nodded.

James cheered as he rushed to take her in his arms and spin her around in circles as he kissed her.

"What are we going to do?" Lily struggled with the emotions warring within her.

"What are you talking about?" James kissed her again. "We're going to have another baby!"

"What about this job?"

"Lils, it's going to be fine. Women have careers and children, isn't that what you tell me a bunch of the fuss I see on the Muggle telly is about? You're going to be fine, and we'll work through whatever you need. I'll even come be your substitute when you need it."

Lily laughed as the excitement finally started to win out over her anxieties.

"We're having another baby!"

"Merlin, Lily! We're having another baby!" James spun her again and kissed her, a much more serious kiss than the sloppy excited one had been when she first told him.

"James…"

"You don't have class for another hour." He murmured against her. "It'll be just like when we were Head Boy and Head Girl."

Lily smirked against him. "I hope not, you're much better at it now than you were then."

James laughed and swept her up in his arms.

"I'll get you for that."

While James had been certain they'd be able to work through it all, Lily found being pregnant and being a professor to be a fair side more frustrating than even she had anticipated. She had a fair amount of potion brewing going on to combat the morning sickness and the drowsiness and the forgetfulness. When the end of the year finally rolled around Lily thought she might faint from the relief.

"I can't believe I still have nearly two more months of this." Lily fell back into a chair as James translocated the things she wanted back home over the summer with her.

"Harry and I will do our best to keep you pampered. Besides, I think it being a girl is draining you more than when you were carrying Harry."

"All I know is that the end of July cannot get here fast enough." Lily smiled as James came over to kiss her.

"Let's get you home. There's a bed with your name on it."

"That sounds heavenly."

The last eight weeks of her pregnancy with Grace were trying, but holding her little girl in her arms was the kind of experience that left Lily speechless and on the verge of tears. The tears came when Marlene brought Harry into the room and he sat next to her on the bed, stroking his baby sister's sparse hair.

The tears came again when it was time to leave Harry and Grace at the start of the next term. Even with having left for a couple of hours here and there for faculty meetings and for the feast the night before, Lily still felt her eyes watering as she said goodbye to go teach the first day of term.

"Lils," James set little Grace down in her bassinet.

"I'm fine," Lily angrily swiped at her eyes. "I'm fine."

James gave her one of his critical stares before nodding. "Alright, we'll see you tonight. Have a good first day of term."

Lily pulled herself erect and fixed a smile on her face. "Thank you, love."

The day wore on and even as Lily lost herself in teaching, her mind kept wandering towards how her baby was doing. She'd been spoiled with Harry, forced to spend every moment with him. Not that she viewed it as some great thing at the time, she was more worried about all of them staying alive than the novelty of being with Harry all day every day. But now she could feel the difference, and while she didn't want to stop teaching, she definitely felt her body reacting to not being with her baby.

She'd just sat down to eat lunch in her office when her fireplace burned green and out toppled Harry, followed more cautiously by James holding baby Grace close to his chest.

"Mummy!" Harry came running up to her lap. "We've brought lunch so you won't be lonely because eating by yourself is lonely. Daddy says so."

Lily nearly cried all over again, but getting to hold Grace in her arms and Harry on her lap while she chatted with James about how her morning had been was exactly what she needed.

"Same time tomorrow then?" James asked as she handed Grace back over.

"Do you have time for that? I know you and Sirius are trying to get all those newfangled inventions off the ground."

James laughed and kissed her. "Sirius is not going to complain about being sent home to Marlene at lunch."

"Fair point."

It was those family lunch dates that really made a name for Lily among the student body. A student came to her office during lunch to ask a question about an assignment to find the Potter's all gathered around Lily's desk.

"Oh, er, sorry Professor, I didn't mean to interrupt…"

"Nonsense," James picked up Grace from Lily's arms. "Come and ask away, Professor Potter always has time to help a student."

Lily smiled warmly at the little first year. "What can I do for you?"

Tentatively they asked their question and after they understood the answer, Harry pulled on their school robe.

"Are you going to eat lunch with us too?"

The student looked up at Lily with wide eyes and Lily laughed.

"You're welcome to a sandwich if you'd like one."

"Here," James pulled out his wand and transfigured a napkin into a chair.

The student gawked, "That was wicked, sir!"

James chuckled and looked at Lily, "Sir, has a nice ring to it, don't you agree?"

From then on Lily found that at least once a week a student would manage to come have lunch with her family. To begin with, it was only first-years who needed that feeling of family being close, but by the time prep for exams was beginning to push hard, older students would come by just to ask for the chance to sit and laugh and play with Harry and Grace.

"Are you coming to the final match, Professor?" Gryffindor's Quidditch captain asked about a week before the match.

"I hadn't thought about it." She snagged Grace around the middle before the little girl could pull James' wand from the table.

"Can we go, Mummy?" Harry jumped up to stand on his chair. Lily and James both went to steady him.

"It could be fun," James smiled at her. "We haven't been to a match since I was the one leading the team."

"You were a Quidditch captain?"

James nodded, "Gryffindor took the cup the year I captained the team."

"Would you look at my plays? I bet between you and me Gryffindor can have the cup in the bag!"

Lily laughed as the mischief bloomed in James' eyes. She turned to Harry as she helped him to sit.

"I think we're going to the Quidditch match."

"Wahoo!" Harry cried out, Grace mimicking her brother's excitement.

Lily had worked very hard not to show any favoritism among the students, especially based on their houses. But James didn't feel that way at all. Lily had decided to go in early and get a few more exams graded before the match and James was going to bring the kids just a few minutes before everything started so they could walk to the pitch. When he stepped from the grate, both kids in his arms, Harry's face was painted red and gold, as was James', and all of them had shirts on with lions' heads in the act of roaring.

"James," Lily groaned.

"It's all in good fun, Lils," James grinned. "Besides, how cute does Harry look in all of Gryffindor's splendor?"

Lily couldn't help but smile as Harry roared.

"I'm a Gryffindor!"

"Did you take a picture?" She laughed.

"Of course," James set Harry down and took his hand. "Come on, mate, let's go watch Gryffindor win!"

Harry roared again in response and tried to walk on all fours out of her office to the pitch. James handed Grace over to Lily and swung Harry up onto his shoulders.

Lily didn't hear the end of it from the Gryffindor students for the rest of the term. No one questioned who the Potter's were siding with. Lily managed to keep her cheering polite and for both teams for most of the match, but she did show her house loyalty rather loudly when Gryffindor won.

Her family became something of a fixture in her teaching after that. James would often bring the kids to just be in the castle and visit McGonagall or show them the grounds and the giant squid. They set up the sleeping quarters so that they could have weekend sleepovers at the castle as a special treat for Harry and Grace. Students who were regulars for lunch would ask how the kids were doing when they came in for class. Harry adored the attention in the halls from students giving him high-fives or hugs. Hogwarts came to know that Professor Potter, Mr. Potter, and their kids were somewhat of a package deal.

Which meant they probably should have seen the next thing coming, but Lily was so content with their life, that she honestly didn't.

They were having lunch around her desk when McGonagall knocked and stepped into the room.

"Minnie!" James smiled. "Pull up a chair and have some lunch with us!"

"Mimi!" Grace toddled over to her and hugged her legs.

McGonagall smirked at James, "I hope you realize that these sweet babies of yours are the only reason I don't turn you into a frog for calling me that."

"Why would you turn Daddy into a frog, Minnie?" Harry frowned and looked up from his soup.

"Oh, I won't turn your daddy into a frog, my dear. I need him to do something important." McGonagall sat down and pulled Grace into her lap.

"And what's that, dearest Minnie?" James gave her one of his winning smiles and Lily laughed at all the memories it pulled forward.

"Replace me."

James nearly choked on the bite of bread he'd just taken.

"Replace you?" Lily stared. "What on Earth do you mean?"

"Dumbledore has decided to retire and go traveling, see the world, that sort of thing. And the governors have named me the new Headmistress. Therefore, I get to select the new transfiguration professor. My choice is James."

The Potter's sat speechless and wide-eyed for several seconds before McGonagall looked down at Grace and chuckled.

"I think I may have broken them."

Grace giggled and snuggled close into McGonagall's chest. That was about when Lily regained control of her brain.

"Would you mind giving us some time to discuss this, Headmistress? I'm sure you understand it's a lot for us to work out."

"Of course," McGonagall kissed the top of Grace's head before handing her over to Lily. "I'll need a response in two weeks though. I'd like for the new teacher to be introduced at the end of year feast and if you decide this isn't right for your family, I'll want the extra time to find the next best thing."

"Yes, we'll not keep waiting any longer than necessary." Lily smiled as James nodded absently. McGonagall smiled at them and slipped back into the classroom and out to the corridor.

"Well?" Lily looked at James.

"Lily," James' hand shot to his hair. "How would we handle the kids? And my work with Sirius?"

"You can tell her it won't work." Lily gently pulled his hand from his hair. "You don't have to do this."

James was silent for a long moment.

"But what if I want to?"

"Then we make it work." Lily squeezed his hand. "We can figure it out."

James sighed and looked up at the clock on her wall. "You have a class in five minutes. Let me talk this through with Sirius and then we can talk it out tonight."

Lily leant in and kissed him.

"Don't worry, there are no wrong decisions here. It's just what we think is best for you and our family."

They didn't get it figured out that night, or the next, but after a week of hashing through it all and determining the best options for all the scenarios, the little Potter family met McGonagall in her office, and James gave no warm-up to their conversation.

"So, when do I get to take over?"

McGonagall almost cried out in excitement before jumping up from her chair to embrace them.

It wasn't easy, change rarely is, but their little family adapted to their new life. Old friends from the Order pitched in to help with the kids. Molly Weasley really loved having Harry and Grace around to play with her youngest two. And the Professors Potter became a new sort of institution at the castle. If you couldn't track down the Potions Master you checked the Transfiguration classroom. And if you couldn't find the Transfiguration Professor, he was likely to be in the dungeons. They only showed their colors while cheering Gryffindor's Quidditch team, but even James couldn't stop himself from pulling the Slytherin captain aside after a poor match and explaining where their team could improve and how to train for it. Hogwarts and the Potter's were something of a package deal.

And when Harry and Grace were old enough to come to Hogwarts, it already felt like home, because in a very real sense, it was.


End file.
